SPAN 324 Text at Street Level: 19th-Century Urban Literature

This course will examine the various uses of Madrid as a literary setting during the 19th century, from urban theater to costumbrista literature. The readings will include essays, poems, short stories, one-act plays, and urban theory. Students will learn to make connections between the literature of the time and the lived, historical experience of the city, often making comparisons with how we navigate cities in the 21st century and what our urban “texts” are today.